Entergy Miss., Inc. v. Hayes, et al.
| Docket Number: | 2002-CA-00314-SCT Linked Case(s): 2002-CA-00314-SCT |
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| Supreme Court: | Opinion Link Opinion Date: 04-22-2004 Opinion Author: Smith, C.J. Holding: Reversed and Rendered |
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| Additional Case Information: |
Topic: Wrongful death - Sufficiency of evidence - Standard of care - Reallocation of causal fault Judge(s) Concurring: Waller and Cobb, P.JJ., Carlson and Dickinson, JJ. Non Participating Judge(s): Diaz, J. Dissenting Author : Easley, J. Concur in Part, Dissent in Part 1: Graves, J., Concurs in Part and Dissents in Part Without Separate Written Opinion Procedural History: Jury Trial Nature of the Case: CIVIL - WRONGFUL DEATH |
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| Trial Court: |
Date of Trial Judgment: 11-21-2001 Appealed from: SHARKEY COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT Judge: Isadore Patrick Disposition: The jury returned a verdict awarding damages to the beneficiaries of Lavonne Hayes, but the trial court reallocated fault and ordered a new trial on damages only. Case Number: 970041 |
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| Party Name: | Attorney Name: | |||
| Appellant: | ENTERGY MISSISSIPPI, INC. |
JOHN H. DUNBAR
JAMES W. SNIDER
WALTER ALAN DAVIS |
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| Appellee: | CAROLYN JANUARY HAYES, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF LAVONNE HAYES, DECEASED; JAVARY LAGMAN JANUARY AND LAVONNE QUINTARIOUS HAYES, MINORS, BY AND THROUGH CAROLYN JANUARY HAYES, MOTHER AND NATURAL GUARDIAN OF JAVARY LAGMAN JANUARY AND LAVONNE QUINTARIOUS HAYES, MINORS; AND ALVONTA PALMER AND TANQUINIKA PALMER, MINORS, BY AND THROUGH BERTHA PALMER, MOTHER AND NATURAL GUARDIAN OF ALVONTA PALMER AND TANQUINIKA PALMER, MINORS | WARREN LEON CONWAY MARSHALL E. SANDERS |
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| Topic: | Wrongful death - Sufficiency of evidence - Standard of care - Reallocation of causal fault |
| Summary of the Facts: | Lavonne Hayes was electrocuted while he was performing renovation work at a sewage lift station. Hayes’s widow, Carolyn Hayes, and his four children, Javary Lagman January and Lavonne Quintarious Hayes, by and through their mother, Carolyn Hayes, and Tanquinika Palmer and Alvonta Palmer, by and through their mother, Bertha Palmer, filed a wrongful death action against Entergy Mississippi, Inc. The jury returned a verdict awarding damages to the beneficiaries of Lavonne Hayes, but the court reallocated fault and ordered a new trial on damages only. After the new trial for damages, the jury returned a verdict of $10,230,906. Of that amount $10,000,000 was for the plaintiffs’ loss of love, society, and companionship. Entergy appeals. |
| Summary of Opinion Analysis: | Issue 1: Sufficiency of evidence Entergy argues that the plaintiffs offered no evidence of the standard of care. In earlier cases alleging negligence of an electrical power distributor, the Mississippi Supreme Court has not required that an expert testify as to what specific act an electricity distributor would have performed, other than some action that would correct or remove the reasonably foreseeable danger, to establish the standard of care. Here, the expert witness testified that Entergy should have known what activity may take place under the lines in the ordinary course of what goes on at a lift station and that Entergy had a duty to make the lines as safe as possible including taking such measures as warning orally, warning in writing, posting signs, insulating the line, putting streamers on the line, putting aircraft balls on the line, burying the cable, placing the cable in concrete, backing off from the location and running lower voltage conductors to various customers. This testimony was adequate to prove what standard of care was required and enough to create a jury question as to whether the duty had been breached and proximately caused the injury. Entergy also argues that there was no evidence that any breach of standard of care was a proximate cause of Hayes’s death, because the death was not foreseeable. This is not the first time Entergy has put lines directly over a work station, creating some possibly hazardous situation, which then resulted in electrocution. Therefore, the lack of foreseeability argument has no merit. Issue 2: Reallocation of causal fault Entergy argues that the court erred in reallocating all causal fault from the immune employer of the decedent to Entergy. In Mack Trucks, Inc. v.Tackett, 841 So. 2d 1107, 1115 (Miss. 2003), the Supreme Court overruled Accu-Fab & Construction, Inc. v. Ladner, 778 So. 2d 766 (Miss. 2001) to the extent that Accu-Fab may be construed as stating that immune parties may not be assessed fault (as opposed to liability) under section 85-5-7. Therefore, it was proper to allow allocation of fault to Jim Avis and Associates as an absent tortfeasor, and the court erred in reallocating fault and in ordering a new trial on damages. |
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